Stafford Cripps

Richard Stafford Cripps (24 April 1889-21 April 1952) was Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom to 13 November 1947 to 19 October 1950, succeeding Hugh Dalton and preceding Hugh Gaitskell. He was a Labor Party politician.

Biography
Stafford Cripps was born in London, England on 21 Aprl 1889, and he was educated at Winchester and University College, London. He was called to the bar in 1911, and he served in the Red Cross in France and as a scientist in an explosives factory during World War I. After suffering from ill health, he resumed his law career in 1919. He joined the Labor Party in 1929 and became its Solicitor-General the next year. Since he was not already in the House of Commons, he was found a seat in East Bristol, and he responded to the economic crisis of 1931 and the  subsequent formation of the National Government by moving to the left of the Labor Party. His advocacy of a popular front with the communists saw him expelled from the party in 1939. Winston Churchill made him ambassador to Moscow in 1940, and when Russia was attacked by Germany in 1941, his profile rose as the govenrment sought to promote its Russian ally. He returned to the United Kingdom to be Lord Privy Seal in the War Cabinet in 1942, and he was soon responsible for securing firm Indian support for the war against Japan. In 1942-1945, he was Minister of Aircraft Production, and he was readmitted to the Labor Party in 1945. He served as Clement Attlee's President of the Board of Trade from 1945 to 1947, Minister of Economic Affairs in 1947, and Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1947 to 1950. In the latter post, he was forced to devalue the pound in 1949, which at the time was seen as a great blow to British prestige in general, and to the Labor government in particular. He was associated with the austerity policies which aimed at limiting consumption in order to promote production and exports, including rationing, strict taxation, and wage controls. He managed to pay for the new and costly National Health Service and other social spending despite record levels of public debt, and he laid the ground for the country's subsequent economic recovery. His integrity, competence, and Christian principles earned him the respect of the public, and he died in 1952.